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Official Guidance Explained
This is the guidance courts and litigants are pointed to when a McKenzie Friend comes to a hearing. It sets out the right to reasonable assistance, what a McKenzie Friend may and may not do, and when a court can limit that assistance. Below is a plain-English summary, with the paragraph numbers from the official document so you can check the wording yourself.
Issued by the Master of the Rolls and the President of the Family Division · It applies to civil and family proceedings in England and Wales.
It is issued as guidance, not as a Practice Direction, by the Master of the Rolls as Head of Civil Justice and the President of the Family Division as Head of Family Justice. It is intended to remind courts and litigants of the principles set out in the authorities.
It replaced the earlier Practice Note (Family Courts: McKenzie Friends) (No 2) [2008] 1 WLR 2757, which is now withdrawn. It was issued in light of the increase in litigants in person at all levels of the civil and family courts.
A litigant assisted by a McKenzie Friend remains a litigant in person. The McKenzie Friend has no independent right to provide assistance.
This is the part worth knowing before you walk into court. It is short, and it is not negotiable between you and your McKenzie Friend.
Paragraphs 5 to 7 set out a simple process. Doing this properly at the start is what keeps the conversation about your case rather than about your McKenzie Friend.
A litigant who wishes to exercise the right to assistance should inform the judge as soon as possible, and say who the McKenzie Friend will be.
The proposed McKenzie Friend should produce a short curriculum vitae or other statement setting out relevant experience.
That statement should confirm the McKenzie Friend has no interest in the case.
It should also confirm that they understand the McKenzie Friend’s role and the duty of confidentiality.
You do not have to prove you need one. If the court thinks the right should be limited, or another party objects, it is for the court or the objecting party to give sufficient reasons why you should not receive that assistance (paragraph 7).
A court may refuse assistance where it is satisfied the interests of justice and fairness do not require it. Paragraph 12 lists reasons that are not enough on their own; paragraph 13 lists circumstances that can justify it.
A firm warning usually comes first. The court may refuse assistance at the start of a hearing, or limit it during one, where it forms the view that the assistance impedes the efficient administration of justice. But it should first consider whether a firm and unequivocal warning would be enough (paragraph 10). If assistance is curtailed, the court should give a short judgment setting out its reasons — and you may appeal that decision, though the McKenzie Friend cannot (paragraph 11).
In chambers, in private, or where the proceedings relate to a child, you are asked to justify your McKenzie Friend’s presence. The guidance describes the presumption in favour of permitting attendance in those hearings as a strong one (paragraph 9).
You are permitted to communicate information about the proceedings, including filed evidence, to your McKenzie Friend to obtain advice or assistance. Legal representatives should serve documents in good time so you can take advice before a hearing (paragraphs 15 and 16).
In care proceedings the court should consider the McKenzie Friend’s attendance at any advocates’ meetings it directs, and consider directions under the Public Law Proceedings case management guide (paragraph 14).
A McKenzie Friend has no right of audience and no right to conduct litigation. It is a criminal offence to exercise those rights unless properly qualified and authorised, or unless the court grants them case by case (paragraph 18).
Courts are told to be slow to grant such rights to a lay person, including a McKenzie Friend, because someone exercising them must ordinarily be trained, subject to professional discipline and under an overriding duty to the court. Any application must be considered very carefully and granted only where there is good reason — never automatically, and not for mere convenience (paragraphs 19 and 20).
Requests from people holding themselves out as professional advocates or professional McKenzie Friends, or seeking such rights regularly, will only be granted in exceptional circumstances (paragraph 23).
Even then, it is for you as the litigant to persuade the court that granting those rights is in the interests of justice (paragraph 22).
It is issued as guidance, not as a Practice Direction, by the Master of the Rolls as Head of Civil Justice and the President of the Family Division as Head of Family Justice. It reminds courts and litigants of the principles set out in the authorities, and it supersedes the withdrawn Practice Note (Family Courts: McKenzie Friends) (No 2) [2008] 1 WLR 2757.
Ordinarily, no. If a court thinks there may be grounds to limit the right, or another party objects, it is not for the litigant to justify the exercise of the right. It is for the court or the objecting party to give sufficient reasons why the litigant should not receive that assistance.
Where proceedings are in closed court — the hearing is in chambers, in private, or relates to a child — the litigant is required to justify the McKenzie Friend’s presence. The guidance says the presumption in favour of permitting attendance in those hearings is a strong one.
No. McKenzie Friends have no right of audience and no right to conduct litigation. It is a criminal offence to exercise those rights unless properly qualified and authorised, or unless the court grants them on a case-by-case basis. Courts are told to be slow to grant such rights to a lay person and to do so only where there is good reason.
Yes. Litigants are permitted to communicate information relating to the proceedings, including filed evidence, to a McKenzie Friend for the purpose of obtaining advice or assistance in relation to those proceedings.
The guidance says that where a litigant is receiving assistance in care proceedings, the court should consider the McKenzie Friend’s attendance at any advocates’ meetings directed by the court.
This page summarises published guidance so you know what to expect. It is not legal advice, and the full document is the authoritative wording. Always check the current version on judiciary.uk and take advice on your own circumstances.
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